Millennium Challenge Account
Abstract
In a speech on March 14, 2002, President Bush outlined a proposal for a major new U.S. foreign aid initiative. The Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) is managed by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and provides assistance, through a competitive selection process, to developing nations that are pursing political and economic reforms in three areas: ruling justly, investing in people, and fostering economic freedom. The MCC differs in several respects from past and current U.S. aid practices: * the competitive process that rewards countries for past and current actions measured by 16 objective performance indicators; * the pledge to segregate the funds from U.S. strategic foreign policy objectives that often strongly influence where U.S. aid is spent; and * the requirement to solicit program proposals developed solely by qualifying countries with broad-based civil society involvement. As announced by the President in March 2002, the initial plan had been to fund the MCC annually at $5 billion by FY2006, but this figure has not yet been reached. A growing question raised by some Members of Congress concerns the level of funding to support MCC programs. Some, noting that proposals received by the Corporation have totaled more than $4.2 billion, fear that insufficient funds might force the MCC to reduce the number of recipients or the size of the grants. Others, however, believe that the slower-than-anticipated pace of Compact agreements means that the Corporation has or will have enough resources, and have supported reductions in MCC budget requests.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 03, 2007
- Accession Number
- ADA462044
Entities
People
- Curt Tarnoff
Organizations
- Library of Congress